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January 18, 2015

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Thanks for the link to The Advaita Trap. Watched it through and was quite amused (no major twist toward the end, pretty much repeats itself).

To me, the question is not so much what is true in a philosophical sense but what leads to less suffering and a happier world. I don't see how non duality makes a big difference, as opposed to the Four Noble Truths, which do make a big difference.

"Good," he thought to himself, "they remembered the water." Then he added a thought: "But who was I telling this to? I'd already seen the water."

It's necessary to bring certain observations to conscious attention by acknowledging them, taking notice, because they're significant.

The Buddha : there is no God

Hinduism : Everything is God

These convictions are the same

Brian
You are the only creator of all the universes and you have chosen for yourself a giant state of amnesia mixed with glorification of a stuff called mind

I guess by now with the advaita books
you have wimed on Solopism

Let me repeat my constant question to you :
When you were all-powerful, eternal all loving etc
What would be your desire ???
Ever read Simone de Beauvoir : "Nobody is immortal" ?


777

Brian: "Most, if not all, agree that the evidence for a detached Self sitting inside our head looking out upon the world, divorced from the brain's physical goings-on is, essentially, zero. Meaning, the brain/body is us; we are brain/body."

How much evidence is there that there is a "self" either attached or detached to the "brain's physical goings-on"?

Not essentially zero.

ABSOLUTELY zero.

Consciousness is completely outside the purview of scientists.

Non-dualists are just engaging in self hypnoid confirmations of their beliefs. It is an atheistic type of thing too. I've seen so many of these crackpot "teachers" dispensing words of tosh it is incredible people fall for it. Eckhart Tolle is probably the worst. He seems to have added cognitive behavioural therapy (or positive thinking) with his "no mind" "no thoughts" doctrine. Sick people who have mental and emotional issues might benefit a tiny amount from his psychology but don't drag sane people into it.

good thing the jnani path didn't hook you for 35 years like the bhakti one did ;)

" But this strikes me as a bunch of crap, substituting one form of duality for another. Meaning, now we've got a duality between thinking and reality. Yet if the world truly is nondual, everything is encompassed within that mysterious notion. "

If nonduality means there are no dualisms, not even relative or apparent, or conceptual ones, then that would follow. However no one had asserted such a thing. Philosophical idealism us the claim that there is an absolute ontological divide in reality, and Nondualism is the claim that there is not. Nondualists can claim that the thought/reality divide is relative, or conceptual or apparent.

who cares?

"Oneness is a bunch of crap. There is no such thing."

This is a pointless remark without defining oneness. And it reeks of confusing oneness with sameness, as explained here:

http://endless-satsang.com/advaita-nonduality-oneness.htm

Advaita is subtle, while being radical at the same time. The radical part is easy to grasp but hard to fit into a vision of reality that is being dominated by an idea of self. This is where the resistance comes from. The subtle part is, well, subtle... I can't really tell you how to 'get it', but without it you can't fully understand the radical part... that's the problem.

Well, I have to point out that the self sitting inside our head looking out upon the world, divorced from the brain's physical goings-on is, essentially TRUE. it is what makes more sense to me...plato..aristotles..descartes..and so on..

only hippies and clueless new agers hate this truth because it go against their religious gobledicook.

and yes. I agree. Oneness is bs.

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